How important is the strength of your undergraduate/graduate school’s brand to the admissions committee?

Overall, what you did in college and what you’ve done since then are more important than what school you went to. Still, business schools do take your college’s brand name into consideration, especially when considering your grades. Some schools are known to pay more attention to this than others. However, this should not be a major consideration when you apply. For every Princeton and Yale grad prowling the halls of top business schools, there is also a student from a lesser-known school. All schools love to brag about the number of undergraduate institutions that are represented by their classes (the numbers generally range from 80 to 200). You definitely shouldn’t spend all of your time trying to sell your school if it is not a well-known one. You should, however, be able to explain why you decided to attend the schools listed on your transcripts and discuss their merits. Beyond that, however, keep the focus on you. At the same time, if you did go to a college with a great reputation, don’t rest on your laurels and expect to gain admission based on reputation alone. It’s an asset, but one that will quickly fall by the wayside if your other application components are mediocre.

What if I have been laid off from my job?

First of all, don’t panic! Getting laid off does not squash your chances of getting into a top business school. There are several things that you need to do. Most importantly, you need to convince the admissions committee that you’re not simply applying to business school because you’re out of work and have no better option. If admissions officers sense that this is the case, then you will have squashed your chances. You can combat this perception by highlighting your career goals and how business school fits into the picture. Also, while you absolutely should not dwell on the fact that you were laid off, acknowledge that it happened and be prepared to explain why (hopefully it’s something out of your control), and move on. Admissions officers understand that even great employees sometimes lose their jobs.

Also, you will need to work extra hard to weave professional success stories throughout your application, to make it clear that you are a “winner” who just happened to get caught up in bad circumstances. Recommendations are especially important here, particularly if they come from your ex-boss who regrettably had to let you go. Showing that you were a positive contributor and that you left on good terms will help a great deal. Finally, show that you’ve been productive in your time off. A Tuck admissions officer once commented that she couldn’t believe how some laid-off applicants were content to do nothing for a year. Even things outside of your career such as pro-bono work or volunteering can show that you’re not someone who’s content to just sit back and take it when life deals you a bad hand.

What if the nature of my job makes it difficult for me to draw upon any useful leadership or teamwork examples?

This is a common question from people coming from a number of careers. If you feel like you can’t come up with any pertinent examples from your experience, try broadening your definitions of leadership and teamwork. You may not have led a group to achieve a major breakthrough, but maybe you spotted and acted on a huge cost-savings opportunity that no one else bothered to tackle, even though you received no credit for it. This is a more subtle example of leadership, but one that business schools will still appreciate. Think of leadership as any instance when you had a positive impact on those around you, especially those instances that wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t been there. Similarly, don’t think of teamwork as just stories of you sitting in close quarters with a few of your peers, working all night to solve an impossible problem. A good teamwork example could be much broader, such as how you went out of your way to help someone in another department tackle a problem. Think about every person or group with which you’ve interacted, and consider using instances where you made a difference in helping someone else succeed.

If in my previous job I had a high-flying title, and now I’m applying to business school, won’t that look weird?

It can certainly raise some eyebrows, but context is everything. This problem is most common during a recession, when some former vice presidents have to explain why they suddenly aspire to become junior consultants. If your fancy job title came from financial services, you don’t have too much to worry about. Remember that admissions officers review thousands of applications from bankers every year, so they know the score. If your high-level position came because you were a founding member of a business, then in admissions officers’ eyes you are an entrepreneur. This is good, although, as do all other entrepreneurs, you will need to present a convincing argument for why you want to go back to school now. Also, whether or not your business was a success, keep your application story focused on you. You will ideally have a good number of stories to tell about building a team or a product from scratch, so use them. Focus on your achievements and tie them together with where you want to go—and how business school will help you get there.

How much does my employer’s brand name matter when applying to business school?

Having a well-known brand on your resume certainly helps, and business schools do tend to value two years’ of experience at Goldman Sachs more than they do experience at an unknown investment firm We won’t try to convince you that these brand names mean nothing to admissions officers; they know that these companies have rigorous hiring standards, and coming from one of these firms is a signal that you’re a strong performer. But the advice that we give regarding your undergraduate school’s reputation applies here, too. If you come from a relatively unknown organization, spend enough time explaining what the company does, but then move on. You don’t need to impress admissions officers with your company’s five-year compound annual growth rate. Then, spend the vast majority of your time explaining what you did at the company, because that’s what admissions officers really care about. Similarly, if you do come from a well-known company, don’t plan on coasting on the company’s reputation. In fact, if the company is known as a mill that turns out business school students, you will need to work hard to set yourself apart from the pack by selling your unique contributions. Two years “on the beach” at McKinsey isn’t going to get you in anywhere, so focus on what you did that makes you different.

I’ve done something really unique. Do you think that will get me into business school?

The short answer is “not by itself.” The fact that you did something unique, whether it was professional or personal, will certainly help in setting you apart from the crowd. But that alone will definitely not get you in. Think hard about what your unique achievement says about you, and how it fits into your overall application theme. Spending two years in South America helping locals build a farm is a great story, but it doesn’t help you much if you can’t relate it to the rest of your story. Also, just like every other experience that you draw upon, simply saying that you were involved in something is not enough. You need to show how you specifically contributed. Finally, a string of interesting experiences can actually hurt you if it is hard for admissions officers to see the connections between them. It is up to you to present your experiences in a way that makes sense to someone who only has your application (and hopefully an admissions interview, if you get to that point) as a way to get to know and fully understand the real you.